Neruda

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Synopsis

The Chilean entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, “Neruda” is a thrilling portrayal of the manhunt and re-invention of acclaimed poet Pablo Neruda. The drama stars Gael García Bernál as a police prefect who jumps at the chance to apprehend the communist author after the 1948 cultural shift in Chile. Three years after World War II, Chile has swiftly turned against communism. Neruda, played by Luis Gnecco, is forced into hiding with his artist wife. Determined to arrest Neruda, the policeman sees an opportunity to become more than just a supporting actor, as the poet draws him into an elaborate game of cat and mouse. Once in exile, Neruda creates his epic poetry collection “Canto General,” elevating his literary status among the working class and with a group of artists led by Pablo Picasso, setting him on a path to personal and literary freedom. In Spanish and French, with English subtitles.

Join us after the screening for a special Q&A session with United States poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera. Following that, festival passholders are invited to attend our closing night party across the street at Fresno Music Academy & Arts with food from Papi’s Mex Grill.

Reviews

"Pablo Larraín deftly mixes fiction with a form of truth, presenting Neruda not as the passionate romantic of his verse but a champagne communist very much tied to passing pleasures. Yet what Larraín makes clear by the finale is that who the artist is (any artist) is less important than what they inspire: to give voice to the powerless, and arouse the senses, is the ultimate gift to the masses."
— Jay Weissberg,
Variety

"What saves the policeman from being merely the Clouseau-like figure who gets outfoxed and double-crossed at every juncture by Neruda and his loyal allies, is that in dramatic phrases that are equal parts Raymond Chandler, Dante, and Wile E. Coyote, he meditates in voice-over on his quarry with the single-mindedness of true obsession and a poet’s ear for a perfectly formulated simile."
— Jessica Kiang,
The Playlist

"Pablo Larraín deftly mixes fiction with a form of truth, presenting Neruda not as the passionate romantic of his verse but a champagne communist very much tied to passing pleasures. Yet what Larraín makes clear by the finale is that who the artist is (any artist) is less important than what they inspire: to give voice to the powerless, and arouse the senses, is the ultimate gift to the masses."
— Jay Weissberg,
Variety

"What saves the policeman from being merely the Clouseau-like figure who gets outfoxed and double-crossed at every juncture by Neruda and his loyal allies, is that in dramatic phrases that are equal parts Raymond Chandler, Dante, and Wile E. Coyote, he meditates in voice-over on his quarry with the single-mindedness of true obsession and a poet’s ear for a perfectly formulated simile."
— Jessica Kiang,
The Playlist